Mississippi State baseball player sues coach for wrecking arm

I bet Mark Prior wishes he'd thought of this in regards to Dusty Baker.
Former Mississippi State pitcher Forrest Moore is suing the school's head coach, John Cohen, for ruining his arm through overuse and negligence. There's also some allegations of violating NCAA practice time limits.

Some of this sounds like sour grapes. Cohen did run a lot of players off when he first got to Mississippi State, and Moore's lawyer is from Oxford. But this is an interesting lawsuit. If it goes anywhere, it could be the worst thing that ever happened to youth baseball in this country. Every 13-year-old with a Tommy John scar and a delusional parent will be lining up on the courthouse steps.

This is going to be a hard case to win. First, the plaintiff will have to show some evidence of what his career would be otherwise. And that's awfully hard to do. (Just because you throw 95 mph doesn't mean you're the next Nolan Ryan.)

Then the plaintiff would have to show willful negligence on the part of said coach. Again, pretty tough to prove. If any court rules for the plaintiff they are going down a slippery slope. Risks are inherant in any sport -- any endeavor of life.

If a 13-year-old has to have Tommy John surgery, someone should be getting sued.

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That is not unusual at all these days. Dads actually don't mind it all that much because they have heard of pitchers throwing harder afterward and they think their boys are getting some kind of Steve Austin bionic arm. Doctors also have begun to diagnose something called "Little League elbow." In severe cases -- such as the 10-year-old I just saw after he spent the winter as the ace of a travel team -- this involves a microfracture.

This is going to be a hard case to win. First, the plaintiff will have to show some evidence of what his career would be otherwise. And that's awfully hard to do. (Just because you throw 95 mph doesn't mean you're the next Nolan Ryan.)

Then the plaintiff would have to show willful negligence on the part of said coach. Again, pretty tough to prove. If any court rules for the plaintiff they are going down a slippery slope. Risks are inherant in any sport -- any endeavor of life.

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I agree that it will be tough to win. How tough could depend on the jurisdiction and how judges get their positions. If they're elected directly by the voters and have to get re-elected, might the judges use a case like this to curry support from the delusional parents who think they have the next Nolan Ryan and want "insurance" for their meal ticket?

Yes, but. It could be that the suit is eventually found to be without merit, but in the meantime he's alleging NCAA rules violations in the terms of his training. That could be more significant, ultimately, than the core issue of the lawsuit.

This is going to be a hard case to win. First, the plaintiff will have to show some evidence of what his career would be otherwise. And that's awfully hard to do. (Just because you throw 95 mph doesn't mean you're the next Nolan Ryan.)

Then the plaintiff would have to show willful negligence on the part of said coach. Again, pretty tough to prove. If any court rules for the plaintiff they are going down a slippery slope. Risks are inherant in any sport -- any endeavor of life.

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I agree that it will be tough to win. How tough could depend on the jurisdiction and how judges get their positions. If they're elected directly by the voters and have to get re-elected, might the judges use a case like this to curry support from the delusional parents who think they have the next Nolan Ryan and want "insurance" for their meal ticket?

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For every vote you get there, you'll lose one from some coach or administrator scared to death of being sued. Not sure if this is still the case, but when I played school/youth sports, the athlete and parent were required to sign a release form releasing the school/team/coaches from liability for these sorts of things.

Besides, common sense tells you if you feel you are hurt, don't play. No point in blaming someone else later.

According to Moore, a couple days after being diagnosed with forearm tendinitis, he was told to warm-up during a game, and threw more than 100 pitches. He and his dad had been asking for an MRI in that time frame, and when the school finally obliged, it looked like he had a strain or tear in his UCL. Two blocks from the bottom of the paragraph:

# May 4, 2009 - Moore met with world-renowned specialist Dr. James Andrews (the same surgeon that performed the season-ending Tommy John surgery on current MSU pitcher Ben Bracewell this past summer) in Birmingham, Ala., and Dr. Andrews confirmed Moore had ligament damage to his elbow and “should not have been pitching for several weeks.”
# May 6, 2009 - Upon hearing that Moore needed surgery to repair the ligament tear in his elbow, Cohen informed Moore he would not be granted a medical redshirt and that his scholarship was being taken away.The documentation claims Moore was not given written notification of his scholarship being taken away and not given a hearing opportunity that is required according to NCAA rules. (This is the reason Mississippi State University as a whole is named in the lawsuit). The suit claims Nemeth and Cohen “knowingly, maliciously, and without right or justifiable cause refused Mr. Moore a hearing” and therefore“denied his rights under the scholarship contract”.

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Ick, if it's true. Unfortunately though, I have a feeling that this is happening to a lot of college pitchers. If I had a kid who pitches and was any sort of prospect, I'd definitely encourage him to just go pro, college be damned. Way too many stories of coaches just working kids into the ground: